PolitiFact asked readers for money in an email campaign Wednesday because it was allegedly being targeted by the Sinclair Broadcasting Group.

The facts tell a very different story.

Show - Lines - Mark - Hyman - PolitiFact

In his show “Behind The Lines,” Mark Hyman criticized PolitiFact’s handling of a statement made by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz on government spending for Hurricane Sandy. Hyman’s segment is two minutes long and walks through instances of pork spending in the Sandy disaster relief bill.

PolitiFact defends its “Mostly False” rating by pointing out Ted Cruz’s claim that “Two-thirds of the (Sandy disaster relief) bill had nothing to do with Sandy” was very broad.

PolitiFact - Cruz - Office - Spending - Fact

When PolitiFact reached out to Cruz, his office clarified that he was referring to non-emergency spending. The fact checkers ignored this and chose to rate Cruz’s broad and unspecified statement.

Cruz’s office sent us its breakout of the 2013 Disaster Relief Appropriations Act to support the assertion that “nearly 70 percent” was “used for non-emergency spending.” …it’s important to note that Cruz said the bulk of the money had nothing to do with Sandy. That’s considerably stronger than saying the money went for “non-emergency spending.”

Hyman - Emergency - Funds - Billions - Emergency

Hyman discusses the emergency funds as well, pointing out that “billions were not for emergency relief. Or for Sandy.” PolitiFact’s response to this observation from Hyman was simply, “That could be true, but that isn’t what Cruz claimed. He said the lion’s share of the money had no connection to Sandy.” But...